Worst headlight ever.

[Whoops]

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

 

[mvk24_imp]

Is this the standard LED and housing from the factory ?

Even my 2014 with incandescent/halogen was a pretty damn good headlight.

I "upgraded" to a LED with the diodes in the same exact place as the halogen bulb so that I would get the same exact light pattern using the factory halogen reflector housing.

Almost sounds like you have a bad diode or something in your bulb/chip?

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

 

[peterbaron]

Woops, you're not the only one complaining about the '17EX LED headlamp.
Some members have already modified or converted to the incandescent light that was on the 2010-16 models or to an aftermarket LED light.
Use search in the upper right corner.
I'm not 100% sure, but Alain Lee may chime in with more info.

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=7548
..there are some more

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

The post-2014 CB1100 isn't the only Honda with a crappy LED headlight.

I don't know why deep in the 21st century why some Honda models have meager LED headlamps.

My Africa Twin is okay (better than the said CB1100). My Guzzi V85TT is absolutely stellar (but there are two headlamps).

 

[17-CB-002]

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

Try this link.
http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15843

I installed two auxiliary "Day Maker" lights

 

[pdedse]

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

And here I thought it was my eyes! I don't ride much at night because I don't have to. Sometimes I'll purposefully get on the Portland freeways on a late warm summer night with not much traffic just to have some fun. But those are lit up pretty well, cars' tail lights help, painted reflective stripes, curves are gentle, long and sweeping...so I don't notice.

But several months ago, stayed longer at work than expected and rode home on the '17EX and was on my normal 2 lane nearly-country-ish route and thought, wow, can't see squat! Thought it was just my darkened face shield. Few days later, tried again with my clear shield and it was lots better. But maybe that difference was similar to one used to drinking cheap wine trying a mediocre one, and not even realizing fine wines exist.

Next opportunity, I think I'll ride the 'EX, my w800 and then the DR650 back-to-back-to-back at night along the same streets to compare.

 

[Whoops]

Is this the standard LED and housing from the factory ?

Even my 2014 with incandescent/halogen was a pretty damn good headlight.

I "upgraded" to a LED with the diodes in the same exact place as the halogen bulb so that I would get the same exact light pattern using the factory halogen reflector housing.

Almost sounds like you have a bad diode or something in your bulb/chip?

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

It’s the factory housing and light and the bulbs are bright, but the lumen output is all concentrated in a small rectangle on the road with a very sharp cutoff outside that rectangle. So instead of a white spot in the center that spills light out to the edges of your field of view, it is a lighted spot and complete darkness outside of that rectangle which in my opinion is worse that the other way around.

Woops, you're not the only one complaining about the '17EX LED headlamp.
Some members have already modified or converted to the incandescent light that was on the 2010-16 models or to an aftermarket LED light.
Use search in the upper right corner.
I'm not 100% sure, but Alain Lee may chime in with more info.

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=7548
..there are some more

Cheers on the link. Delved into that thread and a few more. Looks like any option is going to be north of $600, but of course that was pre-pandemic pricing and is likely a lot more expensive now. Ouch. I think I might just have to relegate the CB to daytime rides only.

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

Try this link.
http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15843

I installed two auxiliary "Day Maker" lights

That looks very creative! Are those mounted to the turn signal stalks? If so, since those stalks are flexible, do you get any lighting bounce or vibration?

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

And here I thought it was my eyes! I don't ride much at night because I don't have to. Sometimes I'll purposefully get on the Portland freeways on a late warm summer night with not much traffic just to have some fun. But those are lit up pretty well, cars' tail lights help, painted reflective stripes, curves are gentle, long and sweeping...so I don't notice.

But several months ago, stayed longer at work than expected and rode home on the '17EX and was on my normal 2 lane nearly-country-ish route and thought, wow, can't see squat! Thought it was just my darkened face shield. Few days later, tried again with my clear shield and it was lots better. But maybe that difference was similar to one used to drinking cheap wine trying a mediocre one, and not even realizing fine wines exist.

Next opportunity, I think I'll ride the 'EX, my w800 and then the DR650 back-to-back-to-back at night along the same streets to compare.

I would love to hear your feedback after trying them all back-to-back like that.

 

[mvk24_imp]

I grabbed a pair of $40 LED pods off ebay, mounted then to ny crash bars, and wired them to the auxilary connection inside the headlight bucket for the factory heated grips.

You have options that won't cost alot if you can do some basic wiring. Alot of the Nilight kits will come with a harness

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Is this the standard LED and housing from the factory ?

Even my 2014 with incandescent/halogen was a pretty damn good headlight.

I "upgraded" to a LED with the diodes in the same exact place as the halogen bulb so that I would get the same exact light pattern using the factory halogen reflector housing.

Almost sounds like you have a bad diode or something in your bulb/chip?

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

It’s the factory housing and light and the bulbs are bright, but the lumen output is all concentrated in a small rectangle on the road with a very sharp cutoff outside that rectangle. So instead of a white spot in the center that spills light out to the edges of your field of view, it is a lighted spot and complete darkness outside of that rectangle which in my opinion is worse that the other way around.

Woops, you're not the only one complaining about the '17EX LED headlamp.
Some members have already modified or converted to the incandescent light that was on the 2010-16 models or to an aftermarket LED light.
Use search in the upper right corner.
I'm not 100% sure, but Alain Lee may chime in with more info.

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=7548
..there are some more

Cheers on the link. Delved into that thread and a few more. Looks like any option is going to be north of $600, but of course that was pre-pandemic pricing and is likely a lot more expensive now. Ouch. I think I might just have to relegate the CB to daytime rides only.

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

Try this link.
http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15843

I installed two auxiliary "Day Maker" lights

That looks very creative! Are those mounted to the turn signal stalks? If so, since those stalks are flexible, do you get any lighting bounce or vibration?

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

And here I thought it was my eyes! I don't ride much at night because I don't have to. Sometimes I'll purposefully get on the Portland freeways on a late warm summer night with not much traffic just to have some fun. But those are lit up pretty well, cars' tail lights help, painted reflective stripes, curves are gentle, long and sweeping...so I don't notice.

But several months ago, stayed longer at work than expected and rode home on the '17EX and was on my normal 2 lane nearly-country-ish route and thought, wow, can't see squat! Thought it was just my darkened face shield. Few days later, tried again with my clear shield and it was lots better. But maybe that difference was similar to one used to drinking cheap wine trying a mediocre one, and not even realizing fine wines exist.

Next opportunity, I think I'll ride the 'EX, my w800 and then the DR650 back-to-back-to-back at night along the same streets to compare.

I would love to hear your feedback after trying them all back-to-back like that.

Cheers on the link. Delved into that thread and a few more. Looks like any option is going to be north of $600, but of course that was pre-pandemic pricing and is likely a lot more expensive now. Ouch. I think I might just have to relegate the CB to daytime rides only.
lol - you don't want to be a leading bike, ahead of those lights at night.

 

[17-CB-002]

Is this the standard LED and housing from the factory ?

Even my 2014 with incandescent/halogen was a pretty damn good headlight.

I "upgraded" to a LED with the diodes in the same exact place as the halogen bulb so that I would get the same exact light pattern using the factory halogen reflector housing.

Almost sounds like you have a bad diode or something in your bulb/chip?

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

It’s the factory housing and light and the bulbs are bright, but the lumen output is all concentrated in a small rectangle on the road with a very sharp cutoff outside that rectangle. So instead of a white spot in the center that spills light out to the edges of your field of view, it is a lighted spot and complete darkness outside of that rectangle which in my opinion is worse that the other way around.

Woops, you're not the only one complaining about the '17EX LED headlamp.
Some members have already modified or converted to the incandescent light that was on the 2010-16 models or to an aftermarket LED light.
Use search in the upper right corner.
I'm not 100% sure, but Alain Lee may chime in with more info.

http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=7548
..there are some more

Cheers on the link. Delved into that thread and a few more. Looks like any option is going to be north of $600, but of course that was pre-pandemic pricing and is likely a lot more expensive now. Ouch. I think I might just have to relegate the CB to daytime rides only.

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

Try this link.
http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=15843

I installed two auxiliary "Day Maker" lights

That looks very creative! Are those mounted to the turn signal stalks? If so, since those stalks are flexible, do you get any lighting bounce or vibration?

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

And here I thought it was my eyes! I don't ride much at night because I don't have to. Sometimes I'll purposefully get on the Portland freeways on a late warm summer night with not much traffic just to have some fun. But those are lit up pretty well, cars' tail lights help, painted reflective stripes, curves are gentle, long and sweeping...so I don't notice.

But several months ago, stayed longer at work than expected and rode home on the '17EX and was on my normal 2 lane nearly-country-ish route and thought, wow, can't see squat! Thought it was just my darkened face shield. Few days later, tried again with my clear shield and it was lots better. But maybe that difference was similar to one used to drinking cheap wine trying a mediocre one, and not even realizing fine wines exist.

Next opportunity, I think I'll ride the 'EX, my w800 and then the DR650 back-to-back-to-back at night along the same streets to compare.

I would love to hear your feedback after trying them all back-to-back like that.

Cheers on the link. Delved into that thread and a few more. Looks like any option is going to be north of $600, but of course that was pre-pandemic pricing and is likely a lot more expensive now. Ouch. I think I might just have to relegate the CB to daytime rides only.
lol - you don't want to be a leading bike, ahead of those lights at night.

Cheers on the link. Delved into that thread and a few more. Looks like any option is going to be north of $600, but of course that was pre-pandemic pricing and is likely a lot more expensive now. Ouch. I think I might just have to relegate the CB to daytime rides only.
lol - you don't want to be a leading bike, ahead of those lights at night.
Someone was talking from experience ):clap::banana:

Remember to reserve a motel room next time before the ride.

BTW Whoops, there were no vibrations at all from mounting the lights on the flasher stalks. Rock solid.

It was too expensive to modify the factory LED headlights, so adding auxiliary lights was the logical alternative.

 

[Nachodaddy]

I wonder if switching to an earlier CB1100 headlight would be an easier and less expensive option.

 

[17-CB-002]

I wonder if switching to an earlier CB1100 headlight would be an easier and less expensive option.

Switching from 17' to a 14' headlight requires lots of modification to the harness inside the headlight bowl since the 17' uses a "Yazaki" 8-pin connector v/s a regular 3-pin H4 connector for earlier models.

As previously mentioned an external auxiliary light is much easier.

 

[mvk24_imp]

To follow up these are the lights I have on mine. They're off brand LED pods but work fine, I opened them up and hit the threads with silicone grease to waterproof and bolts with locktite. Comes with a handlebar switch.

Motorcycle Driving Lights 12-60V 40W 3600LM LED Fog Lights for ATV UTV Bike Car Truck Boat Forklift Waterproof LED Spotlights with 6 CREE Light Beads High Low Strobe Beam Switch Universal 2 Pack Amazon.com

Theres a $5 coupon for it right now. Makes it $35 for the set with handlebar switch.

2014 CB1100, 1981 KZ440 LTD, 1993 Yamaha XJ600 Seca, 1994 Yamaha XJ600 Seca

 

[Nachodaddy]

Thanks, Alain Lee. Good info.

 

[jtopiso_imp]

So I took the 2017 EX out the evening before last for a short ride before the snow set in here and for the first time on the bike, I happened to get back just a touch after sundown. What I experienced was downright scary. The LED headlight on the EX has to be the worst headlight ever to grace a motorcycle, LED or not. It is a silly afterthought and really not up to Honda's design and engineering standards. The small rectangle of illumination was completely inadequate. Once I got closer to home where the street lights are few and far between, I found myself laughing incredulously in between white knuckling my grips in the sweeping turns where I struggled to even see the road at all.

Has anyone here replaced their EX headlight by chance? Is it even possible?

I would love to go back to the incandescent light that was on my 2014 Std. That was a wonderful light by comparison. I can say that until the light on this bike is sorted, I will only ever take it out in daylight, or else be on the FJR if I have to ride after dark. Heck, the FJR headlight is better than most cars I have owned. What was Honda thinking?

It is really bad for night driving. I hope at least it's good to be seen!

In addition to that, my high beam swith is starting to fail. I guess some moisture has been able to get into it. I'll have to open and clean the contacts, like this was an old bike...

I guess this is why some on the press call it "neo-classic". Bad headlight and random electrical issues... like in the old times.